The Rig 800 is still the most comfortable wireless gaming headset I’ve tried

I decided to review every single wireless gaming headset on the market in the middle of last year. The Plantronics Rig 800 was the only one that was as comfortable as all of them.

I'm happy to say that the feeling hasn't changed four years later.

After selling itself to HP, Plantronics no longer exists. At Nacon, the Rig 800 is alive and well. It's hard for me to imagine a more comfortable headset, since I've been trying the 2022.

It still uses the same design with a spring- loaded inner head strap that adjusts the tension on the skull rather than pinching it. It's even more comfortable than Arctis headsets because it has a modular headband that lets you snap the earcups into three different positions for small, medium, and large heads. The super soft earcups don't hurt.

One of my biggest gripes with headsets like these is the battery. I measured 38 hours of 50 percent volume this weekend and it was 14 hours more than the original. It works, and I love having one less charge to worry about, because it requires a firm press to get the contacts seated.

Some of the deficiencies of the original 2016-era design haven't changed, so I wish Nacon had gone further. The headset's 40mm drivers sound a little flat and tinny, without much depth or punch for music or movies, while game audio is crisp and immediate. Bass tubes that kick in if there is a real substantial drop are something I enjoy.

The wireless range of the Rig 800 is worse. The original Rig 800 had an ugly pigtail of an antenna box, but it had enough reach to let me walk across the house and get a snack. Today's Rig 800 has a nifty charging dock, but its wireless antenna is limited to a thumb-size stick. If you're going to switch between a console and PC, you might want to use that. I was getting pops and static from just a room and a half away.

Jack Reynolds, the president of Nacon USA, told me that the company didn't want to change much about its headsets since the Rig 800 was one of their best reviewed headsets. The team wanted to address some of the biggest complaints, like its rigid microphone arm and the annoyance of plugging in a cable for charging. The old two-position power switch was easy to accidentally leave on. Press and hold the button.

I think they should have tested the bigger changes more. Reynolds says that future shipments of the Rig 800 will come with an acoustic cloth for their mics because the new microphone picks up a lot of wind noise when I breathe.

Reynolds hints that a more premium headset is on the way. The SteelSeries Arctis Pro Wireless is less expensive than the existing design and has a better battery solution. Maybe the next Rig will be able to compete with it in audio quality.

If you decide to give the Rig 800 a try, you can choose one of the three versions, one for PC, one for PS4 and one for XBOX, which includes the Dolby Atmos software, and an upcoming version just for PC. There is a game / chat balance dial on the Xbox and on the PS. They don't offer dual audio outputs on PC.

Sean Hollister is a photographer.